Warfarin Therapy ........ Any tips ?

[Barbarian]

I have recently started to take warfarin.

Earlier this week I got a very small nick near my wrist. Wouldn't stop bleeding. Not a great blood loss. After 6 hours, got to see a nurse who dressed it with Kaltostat.

Whilst waiting to get into the nurse I was sitting for 2.5 hours with my arm in the air. Oh ... my shoulder.

I've still got to soak off the dressing. Not looking forward to it.

Any tips for the future ?

Knowing you lot I am anticipating a suggestion as to where I should put a tournique.           

[Les]

I wonder if some propolis would work to stop the bleeding and it has antiseptic qualities.  It is sticky and would adhere to your skin.

[lazy shooter]

My doctor prescribed a drug that contained warfarin in it for the first three weeks after my knee replacement.  He was so concerned about it that he had a registered nurse come to my home twice a week and test my blood.  During that time, my doctor cautioned me to be extra careful and avoid all cuts and abrasions.  My advice would be to be very careful, and for sure, you need to report this incident to your doctor.  Hours and hours of bleeding is a bad thing.  What if you had an accident that caused severe bleeding?

Talk to your doctor and take care of yourself.

As a side bar, warfarin in the main ingredient in some rat poisons.  It causes the rat to internally bleed to death.

[Bakersdozen]

Talk to your doctor and take care of yourself.

I agree with lazy.  Talk to your doctor.  Maybe a lower dosage is available.  The need to seek medical help over a small nick seems a bit much.
I don't have experience with Warfarin, but I was prescribed Xarelto after my knee replacement last summer.  They are similar blood thinners.  I contacted the surgeon within days of going home because blood was pooling in my lower leg.  He took me off the Xarelto and put me on a low dose aspririn.  It would have been nice to have been spared the cost of the Xarelto.  It was very expensive.

[Zulu]

If you are prone to nicking yourself , then a clotting agent would make sense to have at hand.  Should be available at the Chemist over the counter.  Ask your dr if not.

Don't know UK brand names, but in USA , wound seal, Celox, quick clot, blood stop and a bunch more.

[Lburou]

That story makes me uncomfortable Barbarian.  Glad you got it taken care of.  For small cuts,  a styptic or hemostatic pencil would stop the bleeding right now.   

I was having my finger stitched once when we had to put a tourniquet on the base of the finger to stop slow the bleeding.  Bleeding never really stopped, but the Doc kept sewing.  Stopped taking ginko biloba next day, and illustrates dangers of self medications.

[Perry]

When I used to shave I would nick myself from time to time and use a styptic stick to get it to stop. It stung.
Then I though to myself, why not just stop shaving? Problem solved!

[neillsayers]

I don't take blood thinners but propolis tincture works great for sealing up cuts for me. The everclear in it burns like the dickens but I never get an infection.

[rwlaw]

Ya, you can get those bandages that have clotting agents in them. Another handy thing on hand is cayenne pepper. One time I jammed a torx bit into my finger and must have nicked a artery, I couldn't get the thing to stopper up.
I had read where poeple had applied it to some serious wounds to stop bleeding, so I made a paste, put it on the bandage and compressed the snot out of it. It quit bleeding in 5 minutes or so, I figured it was a lot better than trying to work pointing at the sky for the rest of the day.

[Barbarian]

Thanks everybody for the comments and suggestions.

Thanks Perry for the tip to stop shaving. Do you think I should stop shaving my legs ?

I went to the anti-coagulant clinic this morning. All OK but the nurse said that the anti-platelet drug (clopidogerol) which I take won't help the clotting.
Later, I checked the apiary and managed to get a tiny nick on the back of my hand from a thorn. A styptic pencil didn't work so after 2 hours I have stuck on. a small square of Kaltostat (calcium sodium alginate). It seems to be working. I'll leave it on for a few days.

I think I will have to get in the habit of wearing gloves when mucking around.
On my "to do list" is make up some propolis tincture. I'll also give the styptic pencil another go.

[Perry]

I stopped shaving mine.
Is there not a substitute drug that is available, cause I sure don't like the sound of bleeding for 2 hours after a thorn nick? I always have one wound or another on the go almost every day.

[Barbarian]

A couple of tips and a consequence

Since I started the Warfain, I have had a couple of episodes which confined me to bed. The first was in Dec 2016 and then July 2017. Both involved an internal bleed into a thigh muscle. Quite painful and a multi-colored leg. In each case the clotting measure (INR) was not high.

Tips ... Avoid pain relief containing codeine-like ingredient. Immobility and constipation not good. With my latest episode I got some relief via cold compresses. It may even have helped to reduce the spread of blood under the skin.

Consequences  ..... I was not able to drive or be driven for 3 weeks. I lost a couple of hives in the Dec incident. In the recent incident, 1 was not able to check my colonies and am having to prioritize. One hive per daily visit.

Some good news  .... Yesterday was the first time since July 16th that I was able to put my sock on myself.   

[Wandering Man]

Any small step forward is good news.

[neillsayers]

Dog gone it, sorry to hear that, Barb! Sounds like you are on the mend, though. Be well!

[riverbee]

barbarian......i get the sock thing......been there, done that with the new hardware..........
use a sock helper............

hey just funning......thanks for the update and truly wishing you better days ahead!  sorry to hear of the rough time of it......hang in there!

also, i would just skip the socks...........